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How The Heck Do You Get That Much Protein?! · Your Strongest Body

• 0:08
  Speaker 1: You are listening to your Strongest Body.
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: Hi, I'm Betsy Foster, a certified strength and conditioning specialist and certified nutrition coach.
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: I've worked as a personal trainer for over a decade, helping people build strength, speed, muscles as well as a deep appreciation for their bodies and confidence that helps them live their life to the fullest.
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: Now I'm sharing what I know with you fitness, nutrition and all the deeper stuff to help you discover your strongest body.
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: Hello, hello, welcome back to another episode of your Strongest Body.
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: When you are listening to this, if you listen to it the day it comes out, it's Monday Monday energy.
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: You can do it, I know you can.
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: Sometimes it's hard to get the week started, especially the transition back to the week, but you can do it.
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: Sometimes you get that fresh Monday energy.
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: Sometimes you don't.
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: So, hoping that you have some fresh Monday energy or you have some great energy whatever day you choose to listen to this Today's podcast.
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: We're getting realistic.
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: How the heck am I supposed to get that much protein heard?
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: But protein is essential for our goals in the gym, both for strength, both for quality of life, as well as physique goals.
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: So the idea that we are trying to increase our protein intake to help muscle protein synthesis to help satiation and that feeling of fullness, to help us be able to recover and return to our training ready to train again, is a really important concept, and so, if you've heard me talk about it or you've heard someone else talk about it, you might be wondering how do I get all that protein though?
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: How do I get all that protein?
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: Great question, and you might, especially if you know how much we're aiming for.
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: That is when this is.
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: It's like a glass shattering moment.
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: Once I tell people how much protein we're trying to aim for as an active individual with a, you know, fitness, physique and or strength and or quality of life goal, they hear that number and then all the alarms start going off, they start freaking out.
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: How in the world do I get all that protein?
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: Well, we're going to talk about that today.
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: Practical strategies for getting all that protein and an acknowledgement of your feelings are valid.
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: It is sometimes very hard to get all that, or it feels overwhelming until you create the kind of habits, the kind of proactive nutrition strategies that help you get there.
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: So, like I said, we need that protein.
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: We need it to help repair muscle, grow muscle, give us energy to perform our next workouts, help us recover, help us feel fuller throughout the day Really, really important.
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: We need for active individuals.
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: The general recommendation is very low For active individuals.
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: We're actually looking for a much higher number, about 0.75 to 1 gram of protein per pound of body weight.
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: I'm using the measurements that we use in the US, but you can use kilograms if you need 0.75 grams to 1 gram per pound of body weight.
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: So if you take your body weight and the high end is going to be your body weight in grams of protein, that's a lot of protein.
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: If you're like a 150 pound individual and you can adjust it in your own mind, that's 150 grams of protein.
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: That is a lot of protein.
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: Now, we might not be starting with hitting that number.
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: We might be starting with just getting above 100 grams, because so many people are below 100 grams.
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: If we can get above 100 for a little while, once we get into that routine, then we can get a little closer to that sort of magic number that we're looking for, especially if we're training hard, especially if we're consistently hitting those other goals.
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: We're training hard, especially if we're consistently hitting those other goals.
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: What I will say before we get into how we're going to get that protein is.
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: I did a little nutrition challenge about two months ago.
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: The participants in that challenge who completed all of the challenge have regularly messaged me from that challenge until now, like continually.
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: I continually get messages that say I have never felt so good from a nutrition standpoint.
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: Now that I get all this protein, I am shocked at how much energy more energy I have.
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: I am shocked at how full I feel.
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: I am shocked at how much better I feel after my workouts because of my protein intake.
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: And I say that just to really illuminate the fact that a lot of people are so low on protein that they don't even know that it is the reason why they are kind of feeling crummy or they're feeling low energy energy or they're not recovering from their workouts or they really struggle with kind of finding joy in food and finding nourishment in food because they don't have enough.
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: Once you get enough protein and you actually experience what it's like to feel full and recovered, the possibilities kind of open up and there's a real joy about eating at that point because you start to feel good.
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: Your food is helping you feel good.
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: I know that seems really obvious, but I just keep hearing it time and time again with the folks that did the Fit Fuel Nutrition Challenge.
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: So I wanted to make sure that I mentioned that.
• 6:29
  Speaker 1: Now, if you just heard about the number that you need in terms of your protein intake and you're still you didn't hear my last three to six sentences, because you're like how in the world am I going to get all that protein in?
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: I'm going to help you break it down.
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: Okay, let's pretend and you are more than welcome to adjust this for your own body weight.
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: Let's pretend we're aiming for 150 grams of protein.
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: Let's just or you know what?
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: Let's think about our 100 grams.
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: If we think about getting over 100 grams and we think about eating four to five times per day, that means that we're really only needing to get somewhere between 20 to 30 grams of protein per meal or snack.
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: That's not too bad if you think about it, but the reason why, like that seems easy, right, but the reason why that is maybe not happening for you is because you're not thinking about it ahead of time and because some of your meals and or snacks do not have that amount in them.
• 7:42
  Speaker 1: So when we start to think about including that amount or a little bit more at each meal or snack, we can hit that number pretty easily.
• 7:52
  Speaker 1: How do we do that?
• 7:53
  Speaker 1: We got to start well with breakfast.
• 7:55
  Speaker 1: We got to start well with whatever we're eating first in the day.
• 7:59
  Speaker 1: Lots of delicious breakfast foods are low in protein.
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: That's just, you know, like there is a real emphasis on sort of carby foods in the morning, and I think it probably comes from that idea of like breaking the fast and feeling like that's what you're kind of craving.
• 8:17
  Speaker 1: I'm a lover of a carby breakfast, for sure, but if I'm going to have a carby breakfast, I'm also going to make sure I get a good source of protein.
• 8:27
  Speaker 1: Great sources of protein are eggs and egg whites.
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: Now realize that we associate eggs and protein, but if we're looking at the individual egg, it has a lot of protein for the amount that it is, but it's giving you about six grams of protein.
• 8:46
  Speaker 1: So to get to that 20, we have to have at least three eggs and something else.
• 8:51
  Speaker 1: You could also have two eggs and some egg whites.
• 8:55
  Speaker 1: Egg whites pack a big protein punch with a lower calorie cost, and that can be a useful thing.
• 9:07
  Speaker 1: Dairy, low-fat dairy, high protein in Greek yogurt, cottage cheese, things like that.
• 9:16
  Speaker 1: We can have meat at breakfast and lean meats are going to be sort of our most bang for our buck in terms of protein and in terms of calories and in terms of fat content.
• 9:27
  Speaker 1: But again, you can choose.
• 9:30
  Speaker 1: We also, at breakfast, could start to release ourselves of the idea that there are certain foods you eat at breakfast, could start to release ourself of the idea that there are certain foods you eat at breakfast and certain foods that you don't.
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: One of the easiest ways to get around that sort of breakfast hurdle is to start thinking about any food is okay in the morning.
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: We get it in our mind.
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: This food is a breakfast food.
• 9:50
  Speaker 1: Now you can have that food all day.
• 9:52
  Speaker 1: In the same way, you can have any meal that you have at lunch or dinner.
• 9:56
  Speaker 1: You can have it in the morning.
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: So when you free yourself of that idea, you can kind of get creative and have whatever you might be interested in in the morning.
• 10:05
  Speaker 1: But we want to think about prioritizing that protein early on in our day.
• 10:12
  Speaker 1: If we're losing that in the first meal, we have a lot to catch up on later in the day.
• 10:18
  Speaker 1: Next one is snacks.
• 10:20
  Speaker 1: Snacks tend to be our downfall and the population at large.
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: And why is that?
• 10:27
  Speaker 1: Well, so many times people ask me what are some high protein snacks?
• 10:30
  Speaker 1: The truth is is that convenience snack food is typically not high in protein.
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: Because it's easy to package, it's easy to keep, it's like trying to be as non-perishable as possible.
• 10:45
  Speaker 1: That's kind of what snack foods are.
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: They tend to be carby, they tend to be something that you can eat quickly on the go, and a lot of those, just as they sort of exist, are not high in protein.
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: The options that we have are something like a protein bar or a prepackaged convenience food that is aimed to increase protein.
• 11:07
  Speaker 1: So they make all kinds of things now cookies and chips and all of that, all of that.
• 11:23
  Speaker 1: So you can choose that A protein bar with a calorie content of around 200 calories should have above 15 grams of protein.
• 11:28
  Speaker 1: If we are getting below 15 grams of protein in a protein bar, I'm not going to really consider it a protein bar.
• 11:35
  Speaker 1: I'm probably going to consider it a bar with some extra protein, if that makes sense.
• 11:39
  Speaker 1: We really want, if we're searching for a source of protein, we want it to be above 15 grams.
• 11:44
  Speaker 1: So I would encourage you when you're looking for your protein bar, you want to get something above 15 grams of protein and then, depending on whether or not you're keeping track of your calorie numbers, you can determine whether or not you want to look at the amount of calories in there.
• 12:05
  Speaker 1: But if you want it to be a little lower, you still want to have that protein content above 15 grams.
• 12:13
  Speaker 1: Other things that have a little less than that can be great snacks and can be great additions, but they're not going to be an entire protein bar per se.
• 12:22
  Speaker 1: So those are options.
• 12:25
  Speaker 1: I mentioned things like cookies and crackers that now have added protein in it or are deemed like a protein cookie or something.
• 12:31
  Speaker 1: If that is what you're looking for, great.
• 12:34
  Speaker 1: I want to remind you that sometimes they advertise things as high protein, but when you look at sort of the calorie total and the protein total, it's not the same.
• 12:45
  Speaker 1: A terrific macronutrient breakdown.
• 12:49
  Speaker 1: If you like the taste of it and if it fits in your diet well and you digest it well, by all means choose something that you like and if you like it, eat it.
• 12:58
  Speaker 1: Just remember that some of the packaging that will say something like this has 16 grams of protein.
• 13:04
  Speaker 1: That might be in two servings.
• 13:07
  Speaker 1: So you just have to be sort of a conscious consumer on that.
• 13:12
  Speaker 1: With snacking, we also do not have to just have protein bars or things like that.
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: We can release ourselves.
• 13:22
  Speaker 1: In the same way that we let go of what breakfast foods are, what lunch foods are and dinner foods are, we can release ourselves of the idea that there are certain snack foods and there are certain meal foods.
• 13:33
  Speaker 1: One of the most successful things for people to do in terms of their nutrition is to have meal foods in smaller portions at snack time or split up and maybe not even have a distinction between meals and snacks.
• 13:49
  Speaker 1: I know that's not always easy to do, given your work schedule or given your family's schedule, but if you can pack some of what you would have for lunch a smaller portion to have later as your snack, or just split your lunch into two different sittings, that can be a really helpful thing because you can get a ton more protein in a meal-based item.
• 14:12
  Speaker 1: That's just something to think about there.
• 14:16
  Speaker 1: How are we getting more protein?
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: There's another way.
• 14:20
  Speaker 1: We can use protein powders in shakes and things.
• 14:23
  Speaker 1: Liquid protein can be helpful when, if you are trying to get a ton of protein in but you don't feel like you have a ton of stomach room or you don't want to have a whole nother meal, we can use a protein powder.
• 14:35
  Speaker 1: We can have protein powder by itself with water.
• 14:38
  Speaker 1: Again, it's a taste preference.
• 14:40
  Speaker 1: You can have protein powder with something mixed in.
• 14:43
  Speaker 1: I always tell everybody I mix mine with tart cherry juice.
• 14:45
  Speaker 1: Tart cherry juice has been proven to decrease soreness.
• 14:49
  Speaker 1: I actually just really like the taste of it.
• 14:50
  Speaker 1: I feel like the soreness thing helps.
• 14:53
  Speaker 1: I like how it tastes with my protein powder.
• 14:56
  Speaker 1: So I have eight ounces of tart cherry juice, four ounces of water and I mix it with a scoop and a half of my protein powder.
• 15:03
  Speaker 1: You can have your protein powder with almond milk or dairy milk or you can mix fruit.
• 15:09
  Speaker 1: You can make a thicker, more meal-like smoothie as well.
• 15:14
  Speaker 1: There is nothing wrong with a protein powder and in a lot of cases it is a very easy, lower calorie way to get that protein in and fit it in in your life in a more convenient way.
• 15:31
  Speaker 1: I think sometimes there is a real narrative around quote-unquote whole foods that's saying like maybe you shouldn't use these powders and things, but they are made of many of the same ingredients.
• 15:46
  Speaker 1: They are just packaged so that you can have them in a more convenient way.
• 15:50
  Speaker 1: So consider using a protein powder as a way to do that.
• 15:56
  Speaker 1: Then there are just ways in which you can sort of augment little elements of recipes so that you can increase the protein content.
• 16:07
  Speaker 1: So can you add some extra lean meat to a recipe, whether you like a pasta dish that you want to add your lean meat to.
• 16:17
  Speaker 1: Are you going to make a sauce?
• 16:19
  Speaker 1: Can you make that sauce with Greek yogurt or cottage cheese?
• 16:24
  Speaker 1: Can you add egg whites to something to increase the protein content?
• 16:29
  Speaker 1: There are just little places where we can kind of sneak things in where you don't feel like you have to eat more food.
• 16:33
  Speaker 1: You're just changing the recipe to increase the protein content.
• 16:40
  Speaker 1: Now a word about this before I send you off on your way to take on this challenge of adding more protein to your diet.
• 16:47
  Speaker 1: It is not going to happen overnight and it might be hard at first.
• 16:54
  Speaker 1: So start slowly, look for the easiest ways.
• 16:58
  Speaker 1: You can incorporate things now and add over time.
• 17:01
  Speaker 1: If you're far below 100 grams, can you get to 100 grams?
• 17:07
  Speaker 1: If you don't know about how much protein you're taking in, you may want to spend a week tracking your intake, tracking your food intake, so that you have an idea of where you stand.
• 17:18
  Speaker 1: It does not have to be a forever thing, but if you get an idea, a realistic idea, of where you are now, then you can go in and manipulate the places where you could increase the protein, can go in and manipulate the places where you could increase the protein, and in that way you're not doing a diet transformation, you're simply optimizing or improving the nutrition that you are already so dialed in on.
• 17:44
  Speaker 1: And I tell you, I'm going to get some of my clients on the podcast at some point, because the just huge mindset shifts people have had and the results they are getting, both from a strength perspective, a physique perspective, but also just an energy and vitality and feeling good perspective from increasing their protein intake in these ways, is incredible and I want you to hear it from their mouth.
• 18:12
  Speaker 1: You can try and trust me.
• 18:14
  Speaker 1: But I think sometimes when I say things everybody's like well, it's so easy for you, you do this professionally.
• 18:19
  Speaker 1: I'm still thinking about it all the time.
• 18:21
  Speaker 1: It is more automatic for me now, but it's just because I've been doing it for a while.
• 18:25
  Speaker 1: It can become automatic for you too, but people who are doing their everyday jobs for you too, but people who are doing their everyday jobs, who are doing their everyday tasks and aren't in the fitness industry, are seeing tons of results from this, so I promise it will help you.
• 18:43
  Speaker 1: Okay, so I want you to take those strategies.
• 18:45
  Speaker 1: Go out there, try to get more protein.
• 18:48
  Speaker 1: Let me know how it goes.
• 18:50
  Speaker 1: As always, I am so grateful that you are here listening.
• 18:54
  Speaker 1: If you want to contact me, you can send me an email, betsy, at BeFosterStrongcom.
• 18:59
  Speaker 1: That's the letter B, fosterstrongcom.
• 19:02
  Speaker 1: You can send me an Instagram DM at Foster.
• 19:05
  Speaker 1: Underscore strength and, as always, share rate review.
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: It's so helpful.
• 19:13
  Speaker 1: I greatly, greatly appreciate it.
• 19:15
  Speaker 1: Until next time, go build your strongest body and I'll talk to you later.
• 19:19
  Speaker 1: Bye.